The present invention relates generally to games played by multiple players. More specifically, the present invention relates to rules and apparatus for playing a memory based guessing game for multiple players.
Memory based guessing games have been in use for many years and are well known in the art of gaming. There exist at least two possible varieties of games with respect to their progression of play. Traditionally, memory games have relied on a xe2x80x9cdiscover-remember-identifyxe2x80x9d progression of play that is exemplified by common card-matching memory games. Typically, the identities of face-down cards are discovered by a process of random guessing and subsequently remembered in order to eventually identify pairs of matching cards.
There also exists the possibility of a second category of memory based guessing games, in which the positions of particular items are initially known. These memory games, in contrast, would follow a xe2x80x9cremember-identifyxe2x80x9d progression of play. In such games, the positions of particular items being initially known, the object would be to remember their locations throughout the course of play, which involves a rearrangement of the items, in order to identify them once more at the end.
Two common examples that follow this progression of play are The Shell Game and Three Card Monte. Both of these diversions are, commonly, simply scams or swindles based on sleight of hand or some other trick.
Another example is disclosed in variations of The Shell Game, in which a tosser seems to conceal an item, commonly a seed or ball, beneath one of three covers, which are typically small shells or cups. Once a player is confident (often falsely) that the item is under a particular cover, the tosser quickly mixes up the covers, often secretly removing the item or passing it to a different cover. Following the rearrangement of the covers, the player is prompted to wager on the final location of the concealed item. The player attempts to follow a xe2x80x9cremember-identifyxe2x80x9d progression of play by tracking the supposed location of the item, but such is not possible due to the tosser""s sleight of hand. Consequently, The Shell Game, while commonly promoted by tossers as a quick-thinking memory game, is in reality nothing of the sort, but is rather a misleading scam or, at best, a mere game of chance.
Three Card Monte, which commonly utilizes a standard deck of playing cards, is often similarly purported to be a memory game following a xe2x80x9cremember-identifyxe2x80x9d progression. This diversion, also known as Find the Lady and Bonneteau, typically involves the use of two black cards and one red card, which is most commonly the Queen of Hearts. A tosser, or dealer, shows the three cards to a player and then places them face-down on a playing surface. In doing so, the tosser commonly disguises the location of the red card through a sleight of hand. After misidentifying the position of the red card to the player, the tosser quickly mixes up the cards. Then, after rearranging the cards, the tosser prompts the player to wager on the final position of the red card. As in The Shell Game, the player attempts to follow a xe2x80x9cremember-identifyxe2x80x9d progression of play by tracking the supposed location of the red card. Likewise, such is not possible in Three Card Monte due to the tosser""s deceptive sleight of hand.
Other types of memory based guessing games are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,259,627, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention provides a game including game pieces and rules for playing a guess location game for a plurality of players. Specifically, the invention provides multiple coverable items, multiple sets of markers, and multiple shells. Multiple coverable items may be hidden under multiple shells in a manner such that multiple sets of markers may be used to guess the location of the corresponding coverable items. The advantages of the present invention will be more readily understood after a consideration of the drawings and the Detailed Description.